Cultural changes cause challenges for Catholic universities

Transformations in the broader culture have created challenges for Catholic universities and colleges, while changes internal to these institutions are also creating challenges.

We will briefly consider the following cultural changes: 1) the self and 2) media technologies. We will highlight one pressure internal to Catholic colleges and universities: Governance.

In his book “A Secular Age,” the Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor asked a basic question: How is it that in the West, in the year 1500, belief in God was taken for granted and now it is not? His answer involves telling a story about how the self was transformed from being “porous” to being “buffered.”

Through scientific and industrial revolutions in the 17th and 18th century, the porous self of the Middle Ages—defined by deep relations to God, the cosmos, and community—eventually became buffered in the modern period. Buffered selves are characterized by inner autonomy, rational thought, and view truth as discoverable within oneself. The self, therefore, is seen as self-contained. Instead of meaning and purpose coming from God/cosmos/community, buffered selves create their own meanings and purposes. Taylor calls this the “ethics of authenticity” whereby individuals focus on living a life that is true to themselves.

While Taylor believes that developing autonomy and agency is critically valuable, the risk is fragmentation and a loss of shared meaning and purpose. Media technologies exacerbate this fragmentation.

Platforms like YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook use algorithms based on user preferences and curate and sort them into niche communities. Moreover, this can lead to “filter bubbles” where users are only exposed to content that confirms their biases and predilections.

These platforms can also fragment our attention. Constant updates, notifications, and personalized content can divide individual attention across platforms and devices. Complex social, political, and cultural issues require time and depth to engage, which skimming headlines or consuming short video clips makes difficult.

The increased supply of buffered selves also impacts religious orders and the colleges and universities they have founded. Vocations to religious orders and the priesthood, for instance, having been declining since the 1970s. Although there are many variables involved, individual choice and freedom have contributed to this decline.

Last year, the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities published “Relationship Reconsidered: Catholic Universities and Their Changing Governance Structures.” It notes that shrinking memberships of religious orders increases the reliance on lay faculty and administrators to govern. The report concludes that maintaining the religious mission and identity of the colleges and universities is of critical importance, as well as continuing to instill the principles of service and care for the planet.

Other factors impacting Catholic colleges and universities involve a consumer culture that treats the self as a shopping mall—a natural complement to the buffered self. Furthermore, neoliberal policies have led to the marketization of education and competition, increased tuition and student debt, and a reliance on adjunct faculty.

Many challenges, indeed. Enjoy the break. In two weeks, we’ll begin a series of articles on the social teachings of the Catholic church.